Lockheed-Boeing team pitch Defiant X, its candidate for the Army’s long-range assault helo competition

Uguduwa · Jan 26, 2021

WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin-owned Sikorsky and Boeing have pitched a tweaked version of the team’s coaxial technology demonstrator — the SB-1 Defiant — which it plans to submit for the U.S. Army’s Future Long-Range Assault (FLRAA) competition, according to the companies.
The modified, competition-ready aircraft design is being called Defiant X, taking the same surname as little brother Raider X, which is Lockheed’s submission for the Army’s other helicopter competition — the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program — running nearly in parallel.
Both aircraft build off and scale up from Sikorsky’s X2 demonstrator which flew for the first time in 2008.
Lockheed Martin came out with Raider X roughly two years ago at the Association of the U.S Army’s annual trade show. “One thing that always comes out is the importance of this aircraft at the X,” Tim Malia, Sikorsky’s FARA director, said at the time. “The ‘X’ is defined by the Army as the terminal area where they actually have to go do the work, do the reconnaissance, do the attack mission. The operation at the X is really critical for this program and for this platform.”
And according to the Lockheed-Boeing team, it’s no different with Defiant.
Modernizing its vertical lift fleet is the Army’s third-highest priority behind Long-Range Precision Fires and Next-Generation Combat Vehicle development. The Army intends to field both a FLRAA and FARA by roughly 2030.